Garage door operators



Dec. 6, 1966 W. E. MOODY GARAGE noon OPERATORS 2 Shefius-Sheet 1 Filed July 7, 1964 INVENTOR. WMZ'QEN E \"looo Deco 6, H966 w. E. MOODY GARAGE DOOR OPERATORS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 7, 1964 INVENTOR. WHRQEN E. MOODY United States Patent ()fiice 3,289,350 Patented Dec. 6, 1966 3,289,350 GARAGE DOOR OPERATORS Warren E. Moody, 95 Fiesta Way, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Filed July 7, 1964, Ser. No. 380,903 8 Claims. (Cl. 4928) This invention relates to garage door operators.

Garage door operators for mechanically opening and/or closing garage doors are of course, well known and have until quite recently comprised very heavy and complicated mechanisms requiring both strong supports and a great deal of headroom. The complexity of such mechanisms have reduced its freedom of operation and maintenance and has as a result usually required skilled labor to install and maintain.

It is an object of this invention therefore to provide an extremely light weight and mechanically simple mechanism for the mechanically opening and/or closing of a garage door which can be installed by an unskilled person, such as the usual home owner, and which is also simple enough to be serviced and maintained by unskilled labor.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a garage door operating mechanism which when installed to perform its normal duties occupies a minimum of head room.

It is a further object of this invention to provide in a device of this character a safety means whereby the full power of the device and its mechanism will be applied to open the door but only a fractional part of the power thereof will be required and applied when any obstruction is encountered during closing movements of the door before the power is disconnected.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a safety device as aforesaid which is of general utility in the field of safety controls for electric motors.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows the general arrangement of the invention in combination with a garage and a foldable door closing one side thereof;

FIG. 2 is a section taken on the line 22 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 3 shows important details of the shiftable trackway and switches in accordance with my invention;

FIG. 4 shows the operating details of the carriage and its cargo; and

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram for the motor and its controls.

In FIG. 1 is shown a door 2 comprising a plurality of pivotally connected sections 4, each provided with rollers 6 at each side for guided movement in channels 8 at each side of the door Way or opening.

A trackway 10 is supported for slight sliding movement on a couple of end brackets 12 and 14 which are secured to the building structure by any suitable means such as threaded fasteners 16, 18. A flange adjacent each end of the trackway is shown slotted, as at 20, and is guided for sliding movement, within the limits of the slots, on the brackets 12 and 14 by threaded fasteners 22, on which is mounted washers 24, and nuts 26 as shown. A tension spring 28 is secured to the trackway at one end thereof by means of a pin 30 and is secured to a wall bracket 32 at the other end to normally urge the trackway to one of its extreme positions as limited by the slots and fasteners 22 and illustrated in FIG. 3. The trackway is preferably shown as a structural member of box shape but this, of course, is not essential. As a simple form of the device it may comprise an I-beam structure and serves the double purpose of providing a trackway for supporting the carriage 34 on the flanges thereof and as a switch operator as explained more fully below.

The carriage 34 comprises spaced side plates 36, 38 having mounted thereon supporting wheels 40 for rolling engagement with the horizontal flanges 42 of the I-beam trackway. The plates are shown slightly spaced from the flanges as at 43, to guide the carriage in its travel along this trackway. An electric motor 44 is mounted in the carriage in driving engagement with a gear train to drive the carriage along the trackway and is connected to a power source and control circuit by a line 45 which is normally coiled but which is extended by uncoiling in a Well known manner. The gear train as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 comprises a small pinion 46 mounted on and connected to shaft 48 which is driven by the motor 44 and is maintained in driving engagement with a somewhat larger gear 50 connected to shaft 52 and upon which is also fixedly mounted a pinion 54 in meshing engagement with a still larger driving gear 56. A shaft 58 is rotatably mounted in the hubs of fixed gears 60, 62, secured to inner side plates 36, 38 as by threaded fasteners 64 and has secured thereto for driving purposes the gear 56. Small pinions 66 are fixed to the shaft 58 adjacent each hub of the ring gears and 62 and engage gear clusters 68 mounted on shafts 70 carried by pinion 72. A rack 74 is secured to the trackway as by threaded fasteners 76 for meshing engagement with the pinion 72. The carriage is connected to the door or closure member 2 by a link 78 pivotally connected to the carriage by a pivot 80 and to a bracket 82 secured to the door by a pivot 84.

When the motor is energized to open the door, the power is transmitted by means of the gear train to pinion 72 which crawls along the rack to thereby drive the carriage to the right as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 3. By means of the link connection 78 the door is moved from the closed position shown in FIG. 1 to the open position where the door lays in the horizontal position and is there supported by the rollers in the horizontal runs of the guide channels 8.

The motor is controlled by means of the circuit illustrated in FIG. 5 where a single pole double throw switch 86 serves to connect the motor windings for forward and reverse drive. For opening the door the switch is moved to the UP position and the motor is energized from the E.M.F. source through the single pole normally closed UP limit switch 88. For closing the door the motor is driven in the reverse direction and is energized through the single pole normally closed DOWN limit switch 90.

Each of the switches 88 and 90 is illustrated in FIG. 3 as comprising a fixed contact 92 and a movable contact 94 with the movable contacts provided with extensions 96 for engagement with an operator to separate the contacts.

In normal operation the door is opened by moving the actuating lever of switch 88 to the UP position. This energizes the motor to move the carriage to the right till switch operator 98 carried by the carriage engages extension 96 of UP limit switch 88 to open the circuit. To close the door the lever of switch 86 is moved to the DOWN position to energize the motor to drive the carriage to the left and lower the door till it contacts the floor 100 of the structure. When this occurs the continued energization of the motor continues to drive the pinion in the direction to move the carriage to the left. However, since the door is in firm contact with the floor the reaction of the rack and pinion moves the trackway to the right against the tension of the spring 28 to engage pin 102 with the extension 96 of DOWN limit switch 90 to open the circuit. In the event the door strikes an obstruction such as a person or automobile before reaching the closed position the trackway will be shifted in the same manner to deenergize the motor till the obstruction is removed. On removal of the obstruction the trackway is shifted to the left under the influence of spring 28 to close the contacts for completing the closing movement.

For a more complete and detailed description of the combination and arrangement of parts comprising my associated driving gearing as shown by the self-supporting gears and clusters in FIGS. 2 and 4, see my co-pending application Serial No. 348,352, filed March 2, 1964, entitled Hoisting Devices.

My invention has been thoroughly tested and found to be completely satisfactory for the accomplishment of the above objects and while I have shown and described a preferred embodiment, I wish it to be specifically understood that the same is capable of modification without departure from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An operator for moving a closure member between an open and a closed position on a building comprising a carriage, means connecting the closure member with the carriage for simultaneous movement, a trackway shiftably mounted on the building, means mounting the carriage on the trackway for movement therealong, means for moving the carriage along the trackway, and means operated by the trackway during shifting for controlling the operation of the means for moving the carriage.

2. A device as in claim 1 wherein the means for moving the carriage comprises a rack secured to the trackway, a pinion mounted on the carriage in mesh therewith, and means carried by the carriage for rotating the pinion.

3. The closure operator of claim 1, wherein said means for moving the carriage along the trackway comprises a driving member, a driven member, gear means connected to and mounting one of said members for rotation about a given axis, and means drivingly connecting said gear means to the other of said members.

4. An operator for moving a closure member between an open and a closed position on a building comprising a carriage, means connecting the closure member with the carriage for simultaneous movement, a trackway shiftably mounted on the building, means mounting the carriage on the trackway for movement therealong, and means for moving the carriage along the trackway, said means for moving the carriage comprising a rack secured to the trackway, a pinion mounted on the carriage in mesh with the rack, an electric motor carried by the carriage for rotating the pinion, and switch means in the path of movement of the trackway for controlling the operation of the motor.

5. An operator for moving a closure member between an open and a closed position on a building comprising a carriage, means connecting the closure member with the carriage for simultaneous movement, spaced brackets mounted on the building and a trackway shiftably mounted on the brackets, spring means urging the trackway against an unyielding stop to limit the movement of the trackway in one direction, means mounting the carriage on the trackway for movement therealong, and means for moving the carriage along the trackway.

6. The closure operator of claim 5 wherein said means for moving the carriage along the trackway comprises a frame, gears fixed in laterally spaced relation on said frame, a driven member, gears mounted on the driven member in meshing engagement with said fixed gears whereby to support the driven member for rotation on said frame, a driven member, and means drivingly connecting said driving member to said gears.

7. An electric motor control for a closure member comprising a trackway, means shiftably supporting the trackway for shifting movement between extreme positions, a motor carried by the trackway for movement therealong, switch means for energizing the motor, and means carried by the trackway for operating the switch means to deenergize the motor upon a predetermined load applied to the motor.

8. An operator for moving a closure member between an open and a closed position on a building comprising a trackway mounted on said building for limited axial movement, yieldable means engaging said trackway and urging same against a stop, a motor driven carriage geared to said trackway and mounted thereon for travel therealong, means connecting said carriage to said closure to move same between said open and closed positions, and motor controlling means operatively associated with said trackway in spaced relation to said stop and operated by said axial movement of said trackway away from said stop upon resistance to movement of said closure to control said motor driven carriage.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1935 Johanson. 7/1956 Johnson et al 26859 

1. AN OPERATOR FOR MOVING A CLOSURE MEMBER BETWEEN AN OPEN AND A CLOSED POSITION ON A BUILDING COMPRISING A CARRIAGE, MEANS CONNECTING THE CLOSURE MEMBER WITH THE CARRIAGE FOR SIMULTANEOUS MOVEMENT, A TRACKWAY SHIFTABLY MOUNTED ON THE BUILDING, MEANS MOUNTING THE CARRIAGE ON THE TRACKWAY FOR MOVEMENT THEREALONG, MEANS FOR MOVING THE CARRIAGE ALONG THE TRACKWAY, AND MEANS OPERATED BY THE TRACKWAY DURING SHIFTING FOR CONTROLLING THE OPERATION OF THE MEANS FOR MOVING THE CARRIAGE. 